Rail joint



March 30 1922i.

v. i u .i f/ w m ff Y tac. M. TRUNDLE ET A L RAIL JOINT Filed Dec. 19,l1924 v Patented Mar. 30, 1926.V

N 1,578,871- um-,ran aAirirN'r orrrce. #I

cHAnLEs mt'mUNDLE ANDf'EBGAR' fr.y MILLsgcr MrrLvILLE-Wnsr vrnGrNIA.

- lip'puatim.mea:Incanti-1@ 19,1924. :seal No. 756,965.

TaaZZ whom t may concern.'

, Be it known that We, CHARL'EszM. TRUNDLE.

and EDGAR T. .M1LLs, citizens off-.the United'` ments intRail -.Joints,lof which thefollovvlng is a specification.

5 This invention relates to improvements in rail joints V'of the typeinwhicli the rails (are w States, residing at Millville, inthe-.county-,o-f.

Jefferson and State offWest Virginia, have,v .lnvented certain new and.useful Improve-v joined without the employment of bolts, and one ofthe-objects of' the present invention:

is to provide a 'rail `joint of thistype -ofsuch construction that; theuse l oflxboltsis entirely obviatedl 4asf-Wellas-the use kofkeys, pins,Aoriiotherinitially loose and sepa-rate fasten-- ing elements-forconnecting the fish plates tothe ra-ils, the. invention contemplatingthe employment of means-at alfl times fixed With relation'to the railends, for so securing the parts.

.Another object of the,V invention is to provide anovel construction[and arrangement l f of the fish plates such that the plates may-benecessary Where such elements are separate;

readily loosenedandf removed by merel'y striking one end thereof andwithout disturbing the lconnecting-elements with 4vwhich' they have beenassociated, Which, l1oWever,`-Iis from the railsV andf fish-platesas-isAv-.usually the case. f

Another object ofthe' invention (is to Apro-` vide a rail joint soconstructed'that by merely extracting thejspikes Which-secure the fishplates to the ties, the fish plates may be completely separated from the`rails by merely striking one end of each plate, thereby greatlyfacilitatingthe application and removal of the fish plates to and fromthe vrails. l

Inthe accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is a side elevation'ofv the railV u joint embodying theinvention. installed.A

Figure 2 is a horizontal sectional view taken substantially on the line'2 2 of Figure 1,. looking in the direction indicated by the arrows.

Figure 3 is a vertical transverse sectional view taken substantially onthe line 3 3 of Figure 1, looking in vthe direction indicated by thearrows.

The rails, indicated in the draivingsrbythe numeral 1, Vcomprise theusual base flange 2, Web 3, and head 4, and the rails do not differ fromordinary rails except that their customary bolt openings 5 areroccupiedf'by the intermediate portions of doubleended. studs. whicharel indicated' in general by. the numeral 6 and constitute-,the meansfor holdingthewfish plates, indicated-by the numeral 7, to the y raillends. studs 6 vcomprises ashank 8.5 formed at a Each of thepointinidway bet-Ween' its ends WithVVacy-- f lindrical-,enlargement 9which is forcedinto position Within the-respeetiveopening 5 and,-

When forcedin-to iplace, 'becomesgpractically-an integral-part withthevvebvr of the rail With which itis associated. The shank 8isaprovided at each endy Witlra head1@ Wliichvis preferably of ,circularform .and

which has its. facei which is 'presented toward the enlargement 9,.disposed at an'obliquesangle toi-the axis of thel shank-,vasindicatedvby the numeral 11.y Theobliquefaces 11--of the Vheads 10- occupyvertical parallel planes Withv respect Yto each-other and, consequentlyjtheir faces-'are disposed at 'opposite-anglesto the Web 3mof therailfto `serve a purposeftoxbe presently.,pointed` out.

The fish plates 7 are vof counterpartconstruction `kand,so.ffar astheirygeneral contour isconcerned, do notjdifer from `fishplates nowin use,leach .plate kcomprising the usual upstanding-body portion Tr12Vfordisposaleagainst'lthe Websv` of the' rails to be' joined., andthe-usual basejflange 13 to rest i upon'vtlie b-as'eflanges ofthe 'saidrails,;thef lbase flange ofeach `fish platefbeing .provided with i theusual -ynotches 14 `to` accommodate the spikes 15 which are driventhrough the usual tie plate 16 and into the ties to secure the sh platesin place.l Each fish plate is formed with aV suitable number of openingsto receivethejheaded projecting ends lof the studs 6, and each opening,indicated by the numeral 17, is preferably of the elongate form showninFigure 1 of the drawings, the openings being of a height greater thanthe diameter of the heads 10 of the studs Vand of a' length preferablysomewhat greatparallel to and between the upper and loWer edges of thebody portion 12 of the fish plate. The outer face of the body portion 12of the fish plate is formed With a recess 19 at that end of the opening17 from which the extension 18 extends, and the side Walls of therecess, indicated by the numeral 20. are beveled so as to provideWedging faces above and below the extension 18, these faces graduallymerging with the 1outer face of the bodyvmember 12 of the fish plateat apoint adjacent the end of the extension 18 and the angular dispositionof the faces the drawings.

being substantially the same as the faces 11 of the stud heads 10 sothat the faces of the said heads 10 may coact with the Wedging faces a()When the fish plate is disposed vagainst the sides of the rails and slidinto the position shown in Figures 1 and 2 of lltwvill be observed byreferencey to Figure 2 of the dra-Wings that when the fish plates aredisposed against opposite sides'of the meeting ends of two rails to be`oined the corres Jondino Wedoinfr faces 7 b b 2D 20 beside the openings1T Will occupy parallel vertical planes coincident with the planesoccupied by the inclined or oblique faces 11 of the heads 10 of thestuds 6, when the fish plates are slid to bring the said faces 2O intoWedging engagement with the faces 11. In assembling the fish plates Withthe rails,

,the fish plates are, ofcourse, first disposed so that the heads of thestuds Will projectr through the openings 17 and the fish plates are thenslid longitudinally, 'thel plates being, however, slid in oppositedirections due to thel reverse inclination of the faces 11 of the headsof the studs.

have been shifted as far as possible, manual-` When the plates ly, eachplate is struck one or'more blows withv a Sledge, at that end towardwhich the thereby firmly Wedging the faces 2O into engagement With thefaces 11 and firmly binding .the fish plates to the rails. The spikes 15are then driven intoplace-randf in this manner the rails are firmlyjoined at their meeting ends and securely held against any relativedisplacement .which would throw them out of alinement.

It Will be evident that in order to remove the fish plates, it is lonlynecessary to Withdravv the spikes 15, whereupon a bloT may be struckagainst that end of each fish plate opposite the end referred to aboveso as to shift the plate out of engagement with the heads of the studs.

Having thus described theinvention, what We lclaim is:

1. A rail joint fastening consisting of a stud having a' medialcylindrical enlargement andsimilar heads at opposite ends, Ythe innerfaces of the headsbeing para-lleland reversely inclined. p

'2. A yrail joint comprisingadjacent rail ends having openings in theirWebs, a stud for each of the openings secured therein by, a medialcylindrical enlargement and having similar heads at vopposite ends withtheir inner faces parallel and'reversely inclined,

veo

and fish plates at the sides of the jointpro-- openings constricted andthe outer side of the fishplate recessed at each side ofv theconstricted portion of the openings and longitudinally inclined tocorrespond with the inclined face of the adjacent stud head to coacttherewith by a Wedging action.

- In testimony Whereofvve affixl our signatures.A i CHARLES' M. 'TRUNDLEEDGAR T. MILLS. [Las] v [L Sl Y

